On the hard

My skipper has been working away on my hull as promised, cleaning & polishing but it's slow progress.  Christmas obviously got in the way, but now that's over, he's back and has been working down my port side, it's slow progress - not due to the lack of effort, no, but the weather.   Recent fog has left my sides not only damp, but threatened to cover him too with  fine layer of dank cold moisture, so he's worked inside instead.

Two new wooden items were bought in this years boat show at Southampton and he's fitted them.  First is a kitchen towel holder.  This is located below a similar wooden holder that has had the teas & coffee jars in.  I think this was brought about by a small fire that occurred when the kitchen towel roll kept with the mugs behind the hob, rolled out when the hob was on.  Usually the thickness of the towel roll is such, that it is jammed between the mugs and the top of the unit preventing the mugs from rattling about too.  On this occasion the roll was nearly all used and was able to roll freely.

 

Oddly despite slamming in overfalls, the tea

& coffee jars have never moved

The second item can be described as a magazine rack, but this is being used to house the cooking oils & vinegar's and is deep enough for the mainly plastic bottles not to come out during a sea passage.  This is down the side of the sink unit and doesn't infringe on the saloon space as the steadying pole is located there.  This does however free up yet another cupboard which has enough space to fit a shelf and make more use of the space.

Free's up storage space in a cupboard

Remember my skipper blowing up my radio, well yes he did fit a new digital model whilst we were away, but the aperture was just to small to fit housing unit at the time. Well this has been done and the  front has been fitted and it looks so much better as it should.

So with the fog today (30/12), skip set to on the Webasto ducting and decided to replace the first length between the heater unit and the first Y junction in the rear port cabin.

Inner liner has come away

blocking the free flow of heated air !

So he's going to work his way through me from rear to the master cabin, replacing the existing duct with new, which hasn't got this liner and add an insulation sock to its outside.  Once he's reached the saloon outlet, he's going to see just how much air flow and heat is reaching that point before making a decision as to whether the variable speed in line fan he bought ages ago is actually needed. If it is fitted beyond the saloon outlet he will then have the ability to, when none of the rear cabins are in use, to draw the air forward to the master cabin, where currently nothing but hope appears at the outlet !

Today skip turned up and ran the heater unit once more but brought a little toy with him.  The temperature at the open end of the insulated duct in the rear cabin reached 102.6C and a velocity of 8.5m/s.  He left it running and returned home returning later in the day to find the unit had shut down once more with the same pattern of two flashing.  He shut it down and tried to fire it up again, no flashing but no noise from the stern locker either.  So he shut it down again to see if there was an amperage demand when he turned it on again - nothing, zilge.

Today 2nd January, skip arrived and set off the Webasto once more.  He then set about cleaning & polishing my hull on the starboard side once more.  The heater unit ran faultless for ages, dipped after an hour or so, then picked up again for another couple of hours.  It then stopped again.  Skip decided to run the fan only option and eventually got that to work and so all the heat was taken out of the unit before trying to run it once more.  This time he succeeded and it fired up.  He eventually turned it off and allowed it to run through its shut down procedure, a sequence that doesn't often happen.  The fuel gauge also fell by 5l but this may be the inaccuracy of the gauge itself and reflect on some of the diesel used to get to the Yacht Haven.

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Wednesday 4th January and skipper returned to see what had happened with the overnight experiment.  The heat had turned on, probably as the thermostat reached its lower limit, but again two flashing of the indicator light.  This time he changed tack and decided that with the thermostat turned right up and the saloon reaching 22C on the opposite side as to where the heat was dissipating, he'd pull himself back a bit.  So instead of the dial being set at 3'o'clock and the unit running at full throttle till it stops, he'd set it to 9'o'clock and just run it and see what happens.  The fuel gauge had dropped from 230 to 227l, so he'll keep an eye on that.  There's no signs that diesel is leaking from anywhere and there's no great bluey white cloud coming from the exhaust at start up.

With the unit running happily at its lower level, skip proceeded to disconnect the 60mm duct from the starboard side cabin and slide the insulation sleeve over and secure it back again.  May be tomorrow he'll add the insulation to the duct that feeds both outlets up to the T junction, leaving the port side to finish off in the stern.  With the heater still running, he set about cleaning & polishing another panel along my port side and was interrupted by the owner of High Flyer, a sister yacht to me and one we tried to follow during one of the Round the Island Race a couple years back.

She has two alternators on board, plus a 2.6m keel, he also suffered from galvanic erosion but is moored in East Cowes marina, where not only are all the shore power points are earthed through the metal piles but the then new estate near by is too.  Apparently a few boat suffer quite badly over there.  So that may answer why my old prop started to pit and the fitting of the third manual anode has helped.

So skip left leaving the Webasto running on low, still 20C in the saloon and is hoping that the unit continues to run without fault.  If this can be achieved then he'll re-connect the downstream side of the ducting and see if the increase in back pressure created caused the unit to overheat and stop.  His thoughts now are that the thermostat is very sensitive and by trying to run the unit at its' upper limits only causes the problem, by giving it some slack or range to work between the unit can, go in to idle mode and then increase when the thermostat tells it to.  I'll let you know tomorrow when he returns.

Just one other thing to show you how my skipper thinks outside of the box.  He's not left my shore power battery charger on constantly and forgets it, but when he turns up and puts the VHF on as he does and listens to the radio (although today he was listening to the heaters diesel pump ticking away instead), he discharges my batteries and before they reach 50% capacity he then turns the charger back on and lets it go through its full charge, absorption & float sequence to clear any sulphide build up on the battery plates and prolong the life of the batteries themselves, before shutting it down again.

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Friday 6th January - My Webasto has managed to run all night last night, a Wha Hoo moment as my skipper stood on the hard looking up listening to the singing of the exhaust. So today he opted to connect the un-insulated downstream section of duct which goes beneath my saloon heads and finishes under the navigation table, where the another Y junction existed and turned the dial (thermostat) up slightly and continued to polish my hull before the rain drifted in.


With light fading and one more section complete, he sat on the floor with a cup of tea, a torch and the Kestrel 3000. He pondered as how he was going to feed the larger 90mm duct forward to the master cabin, as the existing is 60mm is attached to the hull with cable ties. He decided that he will have to 'drill' circular inspection holes (150mm dia) in the base of my storage under the seats, so he can not only get to these cable ties, but get two arms in to be able to feed the new duct through, the next obstacle being the master cabin en-suite.
With the torch he could not only see the cable ties but could also see that at sometime during manufacture someone had stepped on the duct flattening it ! This clearly is one more reason why nothing but hope & anticipation came out of the front. Is the puzzle being slowly unravelled ?With the Kestrel, he measured accurately the velocity from the new free end and it reached 2.0m/s and the temperature was a cosy 45.0C. There is of course another take off (Y) under the saloon heads feeding the heads themselves. Skipper likes the idea of this being nice and warm acting as a drying room, but mustn't get ahead of himself.


So for now at the new setting he's left it running, hopefully it has settled down. The fuel dropped from 235l by 15l, suggesting that there was an issue. Last night it had only dropped 2l.


I assume he'll be back tomorrow to see if it's still running and finish off the last section of polishing of my starboard side.

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Saturday the 7th - The heater unit had stopped but the indication lights weren't flashing, skip decided that as it was mild, hence the fog/mist that covered the Solent, may be the thermostat had done its job and my system was in standby, so he turned the dial up.  The rapid flashing indicated that start mode was now in progress and soon heat would be pouring from the duct beneath the chart table.

He checked the in line filter and oddly it was almost dry.  He opted to remove the filter and let the pump draw directly from the tank.  A further 3 litres had been devoured by the beast.

Skip emerged from the saloon and spent the rest of the day polishing the push & pull pit stainless steel rails, the dampness preventing him from continuing with my hull.  Having cleaned the pull pit stainless at the bow he moved to the stern to do the same to the push pit.  Here he saw a cloud of blue smoke emerge from the exhaust of the heater unit and it cut out.  Reading from the internet that these units are very temperamental about the quality of fuel they burn, skip is now considering running paraffin through my heater to increase the temperature within burning off any carbon deposits and then using my spare fuel cans with some high grade diesel in to see if the unit runs without issue.  If the low grade marine diesel is the cause, then a second dedicated tank will be made and installed behind my existing tank to serve the heater only.

He's not best pleased and will have a chat to Webasto as to why their technology is falling behind changes to fuel quality.  He does love a challenge.

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Today Sunday (8th), Skip ran some paraffin through my Webasto heater unit and although he didn't measure the temperature it certainly felt hotter to me. He has since set it up to run on 10l of road diesel over night. So two thing will be learnt from this, firstly will the fuel make a difference and secondly is it over pumping causing it to flood and die, so how long will the 10l last ?

Today the UK Webasto guys responded to his terse e-mail and the content of the discussion was very interesting. C02 could be the answer to the problem. With a new burner fitted a while back, but skip knew nothing about C02 levels at the time or now, apart from those that you install an alarm for in a household situation. It would appear that if he takes my unit down to a local fitter/supplier, he can set it up on a rig, run it and like your car, the exhaust gas analyser will tell the technician all sorts about how the unit is performing and adjustments can be made to get it to the optimum burn, with the "standard" diesel

This means that the marina fuel which is ultra low sulphur road fuel, with dye, that this "standard" fuel and it now has up to 7% FAME ( bio-diesel). So by adjusting the units C02 it can run as intended and efficiently as possible.

So the way forward is to take the unit off and go get it set up on a bench and I'll let you know how skip gets on.  In the meantime I'm assuming he'll continue to play with the tank of road diesel until he's booked in to go across the main land in a car.

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Well Skip popped down on a very wet Monday and sure enough the heater unit was still going.  It was as he calls it in standby mode in that both the fan, fuel pump and heater itself were running.  A light breeze was coming from the duct with an ambient heat.  This he recons indicates that the thermostat is functioning as it was around 18C in the saloon.  He checked the fuel can and this had dropped probably by 2l over the 24hr period.

On leaving he turned it up slightly higher but not quite enough to set the thermostat off just at that point, this will occur tonight as the temperature outside drops.  So encouraging news !

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One step forward . . . So on return on Wednesday after his meeting in London, skip returned to find it had stopped, but was not disappointed as it had run out of fuel.  He set it up back to my main tank and left it running once more however on Thursday he returned to find it running cold, this was as he had inadvertently switched it to fan only !  To he's been down twice today and my heater still doesn't like the fuel in my tanks, it just wont fire up again.  He's going to try to run marine diesel from another supplier to see if it'll run consistently on that.

If it does his suspicion that because I can carry 240l of diesel in my tank and during a season only 50 or so litres of fuel is used, the remaining residue fuel is absorbing moisture (through its bio content - don't ask it all becomes a bit daunting).  Thus my heater, with its current C02 setting struggles to burn.  Tomorrow (Friday), he's going to another fuel supplier down the river and going to see if I can burn 10l of that.  If I can then the finger points to old fuel and moisture probabilities or C02 setting is wrong.  Three things he can then do, one is to fit a dedicated tank for the heater unit, so that the circulation of fuel in this tank will be far greater, get the unit down to the supplier he's been talking to to get the C02 levels correctly adjusted and lastly ensure that the full 240l of fuel I can carry is used during the year so that at winter times fresh diesel fills my tank.

It snowed today the first of the year down here.  I'd hate to think what my old home, Inverkip, has been like.

I'm Out !

Yes I'm out of the river and back on the hard.

Friday (9th), my crew turned up on the Harbour Masters boat & straight away fired up my engine, no messing, just turned the key and I responded immediately to show I was capable and ready.  With my iron sail ticking over, the intelligent regulator recharging my batteries with a hard hitting baulk charge, my crew set about dropping my jib.  With it down it was tied to the guard rail and so I was prepared with slips made and the spring lines brought aboard.  With the bow thruster lowered and tide accelerating with time behind me, skipper pushed the bow out in to the main stream.  With the crew ready in the pull pit I was hanked in to reverse and my 21" props bit in to the tidal stream and I eased back removing the tension in the stern warp.

The order to slip the line came and the gear box was shifted in to forward, skipper aware that revs needed to be applied if the rudder was to do its job, a lesson learned a while ago, when I came against my neighbour Polly Agatha. The prop blades soon had me across the Medina and power could be eased as the tide was carrying us upstream, skip kept me over to the port side as the Red Funnel ferry was making its way towards its berth at East Cowes.  Typically one of those annoying instructors was getting his crew to practise boat manoeuvring within the marina so skip gave him a loud whistle to get his attention an told him what his intentions were.  Once level with the south entrance, I was shoved in to reverse and revs increased, those 21" blades bit again and stopped me as the Red Funnel ferry passed, soon I was heading backwards as skip turned me in to the marina.  Once he was happy that he had control, turned me in, power came off as he lined me up for the waiting pontoon for the crane.  Fettling my throttle, skip brought me at low speed alongside the pontoon, where the shoreman was waiting.

Once tied up, My jib was moved on to the pontoon and folded whilst the crane crew had their tea break.  I was then hoist out of the water and the Medina mud removed from below the water line. This year I was taken round to the far side of the hard, closer to the high speed Red Jet terminal.  Since then my skipper has been back and washed off all the salt from my hull, the heaters and dehumidifier are on and he's put back on my spray hood,

It seems that the next three months will be my time.

This is my new home for three months, I've just been washed

This is my prop one year on, Anodes shot to bits but still present

better than some previous years and no pitting.

This is my prop now, 2 days ago (19.12.16), all cleaned

new anodes back and forth.  Just the sail drive to anti-foul

It's Official !

I'm to be taken out of the water to be put back on the hard at the Yacht Haven from December 9th.

It's my turn.  With the crews house taking precedent during the later half of the year leaving me home and dry for 6 months, I'll be home, of sorts, and dry again for another 3 !

Clearly my skipper will be keen to see the state of my new prop having been under water now for almost a year and how the sacrificial anodes have fared with the third 'manual' one having been in use for sometime now.  Also the covering of my sail drive with a resin based product, how has that fared. Following negotiations with Marlec the new Rutland 1200 Windcharger has been delivered since the Southampton boat show and is waiting to be assembled in place of the burnt out model.  Apparently this is more powerful than the previous model, lets hope it doesn't suffer the same problems and has an overheat cut out switch.  My batteries will soon be back up to full strength and it may be a case of leaving a system or two on so as to keep a constant flow of electrical current.  This wont be fitted till after I'm back in the water, given what happened last year to the bearings of the old one.

I note that some of the insulated ducting for the Webasto heater has been readied, so hopefully this will be one of those jobs that will actually be completed.  The skippers idea is to add an in line fan with a variable speed diode to draw the hot air to my master cabin that's been devoid of heat since I was launched.  Despite the reservations of the manufacturers, skip feels that his idea will work and if the in line fan gets anywhere near as hot as the manufacturer suggests then the cabin will have reached a temperature such that the system will be shut down by the crew who will be too hot !

My engine should get a service too, new fuel & oil filters, new oil & antifreeze, new impeller.  It's like going to the Hygienist at the dentist, you don't notice any plaque build up, it's a messy job, but you can feel the difference once its done.

I'm not sure if my sails will be sent for servicing & cleaning this year, they've not seen much use.

So I'll let you know how things are going but for now here's a picture of the crews other project, compare this against the one I posted earlier, there's a huge difference and no wonder it took time.

                               Check the previous - see the difference

Twidelling Spreaders

I know my crew is busy with their house, but I've not been anywhere since I returned from the summer cruise.  The weather has been exceptional and all I've done is watch both my neighbours come and go, in fact one has headed off to the Canary Islands for the winter.

Me well, my skipper hasn't even removed the courtesy flags from Dorset to the Scilly's and the wind un-picked my Devon flag and sent down the river.  Still I am still the pretty boy, the work my skipper put in scrubbing my decks is still plane to see.  Yet I'm a sailing yacht and sailing is what I yearn to do, but currently my presence remains on the pontoon.

My crew did turn up the other day to show me off to some friends, the flags came down.  I also know that they did go to the boat show and I've got some new bits that my skipper will either fit or store on board in readiness for next year, s I'm to be stored back on the hard at the Yacht Haven once more.  My Gel coat is still in a shinny state after the skipper spent virtually three months, cutting back the grime and polishing me up, but I bet I get another going over.

Works to the ducting and my Webasto heater will no doubt get sorted this year too, which will, if successful, enable my crew to enjoy some early season sails and still be cosy & warm below once light fails.  I understand that the latest model of wind generator from Marlec has been delivered ready to fit once I'm back in the water.  This is supposedly more powerful at lower wind strengths, quieter than my old model.  This will keep all my batteries more then topped up.

So I wait here patiently, it'll be my time soon.  I'm glad they're having a purge on the house as once finished it's my turn.

                         My skipper working on the scaffold after cutting a
                                            hole in the gable wall

Summer Cruise

After all this time of in activity and this years summer cruise started early !

Three days early, but I understand that my crew had to ensure that the works ongoing at their house had reached a stage that could be left.  And so my skipper arrived with bags of provisions and bags of clothes and on the Wednesday my lines were cast and I slipped in to the Medina and headed out.  At last I was out and it was of no great surprise when my bow was pointed in to Totland Bay, where I anchored for the night.  Not having been out on many occasions this year meant that the majority of my pulley's needed attention and to remind my skipper of this fact I kept him awake most of the night with creaks and groans.

And so it was that on the second night we stopped off at Studland Bay, at least this time it wasn't full of oiks and the skipper had heeded my advice on the pulley's and applied plenty of lubricant.  So he was rewarded with a quieter night although I know the fact that his lack of sea time over the summer would still play on his mind keeping him awake.  A state he would remain in until he'd got back in to the rhythm of the sea.

From Studland we were well received in Portland marina, where the staff remember my name and still think my lines strikes the best look in the marina.  With the tidal information assessed we left the following day and just caught the start of the races East of Portland Bill but soon were heading West and the promised wind never came.  It wasn't till a few miles out of Babacombe Bay that the wind filled in and my crew had me unravelled and sailed me in.  Picking a buoy closer in supplied by The Carey Arms.  A lunch within with just one half of their friends paid for the mooring and the owner said that she'd watched my come serenely in under sail and also loved my lines.

Me in Babacombe Bay

A quiet night on the buoy and we rounded the point and headed to Salcombe.  My skipper had a 'post it' note stuck on my Nav table with dates of all the regatta's so as to miss them !  The wind picked up and I was slamming on a buoy in the river, my crew not having the most comfortable of nights.  Once the wind had abated, we headed to Sutton Harbour within the heart of Plymouth.  This enabled my crew to meet up with her friend as they tend to do each year when possible and so this year a meal was had on board, they then disappeared for a night cap on shore.  My skipper wandered off to the Marine Bizzare to buy a few bits and eventually the whole crew went walkies in search of a Gaz bottle as one of mine was empty, but more importantly the suppliers had been having issues and so the UK was suffering with depleted stocks.  Whilst I carry two and one usually lasts me for their summer break, they have fitted a new oven in my galley with a grill and meals were being prepared most evenings on board.

The Helford River was my next stop and I was taken to my usual spot to anchor, beautiful as it is, it's becoming busy, although the photo below doesn't show all the moorings & anchorages.  As is always the steady wind that had taken me there became awkward as my attitude changed and the crew had to fight to get my sails down, from what had been a fairly innocuous day.

Pretty Helford River

From my anchorage we headed around the Lizard to Newlyn.  The wind was such that we went quite south of the Lizard and eventually the wind died, the skipper spent at least a good 30 mins trying to fill my sails and get me moving in the direction we wanted to go.   Alas in the end the engine had to go back on.

Newlyn is a special place for my crew.  Not for any emotional reason, just that this is a real working port.  Doesn't matter what the clock says, if fishing crew come in then the harbour awakens. Oddly despite the noises my crew sleep soundly in between.  It is here that my skipper is studying the weather forecasts and evaluating whether or not this is the end of their cruise or whether the Atlantic and Azores High is going to give them enough window to head further West and make the Scilly Isles.  Again this year there was a break and so the 6 degrees 50 minutes West longitude was made and I was once again anchored close to Hangman's Island.  Not that this was straight forward, it took three attempts within New Grimsby Sound to anchor away from others in a busy place.  The wind around F6 keeping me pinned against the rock.

The gruel some Hangman's Island

With crew keeping any eye on the weather as you have to in this place, they went off and toured the Abbey Gardens on Tresco, a place that last time they didn't appreciate existed.  Set in 17 acres of land the former owner had the gardens laid out to support and reflect the areas that the plants came from.  A well worth visit including the Red Squirrel's that adorn my crew's homeland.

With the skipper noting that an Atlantic low was coming in and the fact that the strong winds had abated. Causing an 0600 meeting with the French mid stream, it was decided that a move back to the mainland sooner rather than later was on the cards. The wind however was not playing ball and despite trying to sail twice the swell knocked off any speed the sails could muster.  Fog or mist was never very far away and with my engine running skipper decided to take the opportunity to have radar practise.  Rounding Lands Ends 3nm off no shore line could be seen, even my close proximity alarm went off (0.5nm) but yet my crew couldn't see any vessel and so they creeped back in to Newlyn.

Sure enough the weather changed and the winds increased.  This gave my skipper time to replace the stereo radio he managed to blow up in Plymouth, when washing down my decks and a bucket of water entered an open hatch to soak the system, plus source a new aluminium step ladder having lost the original off Gorran Haven with a gust.

Once the weather had abated the journey East commenced.  Five days in Newlyn was not an issue but meant that to make ground East longer passages would need to be made. So we set off for Falmouth or rather Pendennis marina next to the British Maritime museum, wind was south westerly and we were making good progress with the tide too, but then came the Lizard as serene as anything on the way but this was something else.  I'd say worse than the Portland Bill we faced a couple of years ago, short steep waves built and whilst I had 6 knots of boat speed I only had 1.5 knots SOG (speed over the ground)  and so I became held up.  The waves crashed occasionally on my stern and tried to turn me, all my skippers senses where put to use including his ears which listened out to the oncoming beasts from behind.  We seemed to clear one area when a steeper section took hold, other, mainly motor boats where like trawlers, bows out of the wave and crashing down in to the trough behind.  Eventually the waves eased and my skipper was able to hand over the helm to his crew, after a long two & a half hour session.

The following day, day 28 we left a quiet Falmouth and headed for Fowey, the wind had also left and at under 10 knots my engine was back on once more.  It took 3 attempts to connect with mooring buoy S7, due to a malfunctioning mooring mate.  My skipper almost went over board trying to loop the ring leaning over my port side.  Never a good idea, so high is my free board.

The following day was again a mixture of wind conditions and as such my crew had me catching and passing others.  Thor the 170msq G2 Gennekar was out for a while,  We were naking such good progress that a change of course was made, but yet again the iron sail, the engine came on, to make our final destination.  Skipper, in front of the harbour master had me serenely reverse in to my allocated spot with ease.  Dartmouth had its regatta but we had a place for the night.

                                                                 Thor in the Sunshine

Lyme Bay was in the Doldrums on the way west, would it be the same going home ?  The simple answer was yes, with the added condition of fog.  Skipper played with my radar system again and responded to a Naval warship Southerland that was about to fire a few live rounds, fortunately it was confirmed that I was to continue my passage on the chosen course, to my allotted conclusion Portland.  The question was inner or outer route, this depended on what time we arrived.  As it was the sea was calm but soon evident that the boiling waters wasn't far away.  The surface of the otherwise benign sea soon had ripples and the swirls of the current deep beneath appeared on the surface. By 1800 my skipper had approval to enter the East ship channel, twenty minutes later I was secured on Tango pontoon.

Here I took on 170 lts of diesel with a touch of diesel bug inhibitor as always during a major refuel, prior to setting of once more.  The East channel was approved proving I had cleared the entrance as traffic was expected.  This came in the form of a cruise liner, wind under 10 knots and from the south west, Thor once more was hoisted this time without the main being up, instantly I picked up speed and headed for Anvil point and the overfalls that we've encountered many times before.  A gust of wind had me headed and my crew worked quickly to drop the sail and hoist the whites.  This may have been a tad over reacting but the exercise was completed quickly and I was back under sail quickly.  Again the overfalls weren't of significance and progress was very good, another race ensued.  However Studland was full of, well others that spoiled a place of natural beauty, ski boats, jet ski's, speed boats, all making life unpleasant. with a quick check on the tidal calculations the Skipper suggested that there was two hours maximum to get through the Needles and anchor in Totland Bay.  With some wind, I was motor sailed at around 7.0 knots, we approached the Shingles Bank buoy just as the tide turned, keeping to the island side picking up a slight eddy, anchoring further in Totland Bay than I've been before.  Once settled diner was on the go and a fleet of racing yachts took advantage of the ebbing tide to sail to St Peter's Port for their weekend race.  Their tricolours gently waving at the end of their masts as they silently past me.

Day 32 was not a very nice day, overcast with the threatening rain.  My crew motored me back to my home pontoon another summer cruise complete and I returned to Cowes in a better condition than when I left.  Lets hope that I don't have to wait to long before my next outing.

Fast approaching

All summer, if that's what it's been, I've been sitting on my mooring waiting.  All the hard work over winter may not have been that worthwhile if I'm not out showing it off.  Yet I know my skipper & crew have been working hard on their other project the house.

So August is fast approaching and it should be my time, yet I've not seen anyone, although skipper did turn up briefly to write down what stores I have on board, a sign I'll take as a positive one.

Still no word or signs of my wind generator being replaced, so I wait to find out what's happening on that score. In the meantime keep checking not only the blog site but Marine Traffic to find out where I am. Although the system isn't hard wired properly yet, I'm sure skip will transmit at least once a day so you can follow my progress, when I do eventually get away.

So hopfully better news soon, keep in touxh

RIR but not as it ought to be !

It's been nearly a month since I've seen my skipper, but as thought the scaffolding around his house has meant his attentions have been on Dagmar House and not me.

This weekend was this years Round the Island Race, but I knew something wasn't usual as I had no visitors leading up to the weekend or on the Friday before the race itself.  However on Saturday I heard the Yamaha outboard heading my way will the skipper on board, bu the didn't set about fitting the AIS properly nor getting the Webasto heater ducting sorted out, but he was preparing me for sail. Then it hit me, the river taxi pulled up near by and off loaded six other people including a small child.  The wind fairly strong didn't take long to blow me off the pontoon once the guests had been put through the safety talk and had warm tea inside them.  It was quiet out in the Solent but the wind blew quite hard from the West.

My engine was left on tick over but in gear and the Jib was unfurled but reefed slightly to prevent a roll developing making the newcomers from feeling the effects.  With the wind refusing to ease, I was guided over to Osborne Bay where my anchor came out.  Skipper realising that the further East I went the further they'd have to endure the effects of a head on wind.  Incredibly as lunch was being prepared, Pheado 3 a trimaran was heading for the finish followed shortly afterwards by Leopard a huge mono hull.  There was a lot of activity on CH16 as boats broke, people went over board and even one sank, wind increased if anything, but following lunch the opinion was to return home under the lee of the island to keep out of the waves as best as possible.  The new prop biting hard in to the water maintained a healthy 5.1 knots despite 27 knots of actual and 32 of apparent wind speed.

Skip knows his stuff and the pontoon was clear of Polly & Craftmans Art, probably still the other side of the island, so had a free run back to the pontoon against the wind.  With another brew on go until the allocated free ferry time had surpassed allowing the crew to disembark, then Skip tidied me up.  I'm pleased to report that no hick up occurred, everything that work before worked now.

That didn't include the Marlec wind generator, whose absence is still felt since I've been back in the water.  I think that one's going to end up in court.  Still the alternator and intelligent regulator had been running all afternoon and so my batteries had been replenished.

So it's now July and thoughts must be focused on the one purpose I have.  That is to take my regular crew away for August and provide them with a stress free time.  Although I think Skip still likes to clean here and there, or tweak something, as he has the time to just wallow in self indulgence whilst on board. I'm also of the belief that we'll be leaving a week early.  I'm so looking forward to being out, away from the confines of the muddy Medina river, that tries to blemish all the hard work my Skipper did to my hull over winter and give something back.

Bank Holiday but no show ?

Today my skipper turned up.  I thought I had been abandoned after being taken out most weekends since I've been back in the water and then nothing.  Bank holiday came and went and it appeared that this weekend too I would not see anyone.

But skip turned up and tidied up my saloon, had my engine running and gave me a once over.

My wind generator, appears to have been burnt out, according to the manufacturers Marlec and my skipper is struggling to understand how seeing as it was charging my batteries right up until the time I was taken out of the water and the device had to be lowered to enable the sling of the crane to pass over.  So currently I have nothing that keeps all of my eight batteries topped up, unless of course I'm taken out with the engine running. Take today for example, skipper had it ticking over at 1200rpm and it was baulk charging at 23amps, with the volts up to 14.4v.  He's been in long discussions as to whether the device is fit for purpose, bearing in mind that it's intended for us yachts in all weathers,  apparently not according to the manufacturer. If it's too windy, and what level that happens to be has not been stated, my skipper has to climb up the rail to slow or stop it from spinning. Get real.  But that does leave me without free electricity.  Still with the way the sunshine has been, may be a solar panel or too ?

Both the G2 Gennekar and the Code 0 fit through the door of my starboard rear cabin, so at least there's somewhere to stow the sails when not required.  The insulation socks and other bits for my Webasto Oil fired heater, that never seems to get finished, has also been stowed in the starboard rear cabin.  Lets hope that I'm not expecting any overnight guests anytime soon then !

I understand that the 1850's house that skip and his crew live in has scaffolding up. so he's taking advantage of the good weather and doing whatever it is he needs to do.  I only hope that it doesn't suffocate summer.

When Do the COLREGS Not Apply

I'm doing well.  Another weekend and another trip out.

This time I gave my skipper no surprises and behaved all day, although probably a bit better than he did.  With the tide coming in, the second of the two high tides as usual I was under engine in a crowded Inner Fairway and was held back slightly to allow the Red Funnel car ferry to get away and I was slotted in to its wake.  No my skipper, as always watching the other vessels moving around did not flinch as another yacht was approaching from the east from the small ships channel.  In fact he stood ground and made the other alter course to go behind me.  This the skipper of the other vessel did not like and shouted across that it was his right of way, my skipper with his arms folded, merely shouted back that he was in the main channel and had right of way.

People that visit Cowes or possibly any other harbour for that matter forget that when entering the jurisdiction of a harbour, port or River. the local authority that has control of the confines of that waterway has powers to make its own rules.  Unfortunately in this case my skipper was right and the blue faced man was in the wrong.  Lets hope that at some point somebody shows him the local instructions to mariners and he can eat humble pie and toast the skipper who stood his ground !

So today I was taken out in light airs and the skipper had the balance of my sails right again and I ploughed on without the need for the crew to hold the helm.  Back and forth I went, a big cloud over the New Forest and I was taken back over to the Island.  For a change I was held up just outside of Newtown Creek.  It was all a bit weird, the tide running quite strong was still overwhelmed by the wind that blew me away from my anchor.  So my anchor was actually behind me !  At least my windlass worked without fault.

After the crew had lunch and anchor stowed back on board, my engine was run all the way back, charging my batteries yet again.

Busy, busy, busy

Well another weekend arrives and I'm out once more, this looks to be an exceptional year, although I'm still providing my skipper with a few issues to keep him on his toes.

The sun was out and the winds fairly light but there was a vast number of yachts out in the Solent, I had watched a few arrive in the Medina river the previous evening. My skipper arrived at my pontoon, with two people and then two more and two more, I had heard that skip had spotted a sea horse whilst getting the dinghy ready for launch !  Some people clearly hadn't been on board before, as a safety briefing was given and how to put on life jackets and use my heads etc. With sun screen rubbed in hats dished out, skip eased me off the pontoon and we headed out.  The Solent had about three different yacht races going on and the colourful sight of all the kites was a warning that it was going to be busy out there.  Skip, with a colleague, manually hoisted the main, whilst another tailored the winch.  Then when almost fully raised used the repaired electric winch to complete the lift.

With the wind light and going lighter, plus the approach of yet another car transporter, I was kept over close to Norris point and close to Osborne Bay. Eventually with the tide making up for most of my speed and the fact that we had a late start, the engine went on and I was pointed in to the Bay for a lunchtime stop.  It must have been my Skippers birthday as a cake came out for him.  With everyone suitably fed, plates washed and stowed, I was led across the main channel to the other side near the Bramble Bank.  The theory behind this I believe, was that Thor, the G2 Gennaker, came out and soon I powered up and was passing others that struggled to make progress.  However as I approached Cowes the wind shifted slightly and I was heading more northerly, so the decision to return to the pontoon was made.  Now the fairway is a busy place at the best of times, but there's still the idiots who come in on their mains and then have to drop them within restricted water, getting in the way of others, no wonder I hear the ferries blasting away five quick blasts almost every weekend since I've returned to my berth.

Skipper ran the crew back to the shore and returned to sort out my halyards, sheets, stow the main, gas off and the usual list of jobs once we've been out.

Although the weather was good, it was a shame that there wasn't more consistent wind to enable me to stretch my legs and show the whole crew what I'm capable of, or better still get the code 0 out.

My wind generator hasn't returned yet, since the manufacturers told my skipper to return it together with the controller as allegedly it had burnt out. So not sure what's happening with that as now my only source of charging up the batteries is by running my engine or if I'm taken to a marina, am sure it'll be sorted soon.

Had to laugh !

This weekend my skipper and crew turned up on Sunday and took me out for a similar run to last week.  However this week the wind was stronger and from the East.

So I was taken out of the Medina with my old mate Polly Agatha back in her space.  With a reef already sorted out on my mooring the main was hoisted with the aid of the electric winch, all sorted out by skip previously.  I was a tad difficult to control until the jib went out and sorted out the pointing of my nose.  This then enabled me to dig in and push through the waves. I was taken over to the beach on the main land and the crew had my sails perfectly balanced again, so the helm was as light as a feather.

Last time after 11nm I was passing the forts but this week with the wind on the nose 11nm only got me as far as Ryde Pier and the guys took me in really close before gybing round and heading back (my skip had other work to do).  With the wind to my rear quarter and the tide on spring and going for it the apparent wind speed fell off.  So skip decided that it would be a good idea to fly, for the first time in the Solent Thor the G2 now the bag was in the rear starboard cabin, so he fed it through the master cabin and up out of the hatch.  All was good but a last minute gybe to make the point they wanted to achieve, upset the proceedings.  The lines had to be re-fitted and this appeared to be done but proved otherwise during the release as the G2 just wouldn't fly.  Once the reason was spotted the sail was bagged and the lines reset, bar one.  Yes it was realised that one of the guys that should've gone round the jib hadn't and so the sail was not released.

Just as well really, Cowes was looming such was the speed of the tide and by the time skip had the lines sorted I was heading back in.  This however proved trickier than first thought.  The tide was so strong that I was going no where in the Fairway and the car ferry was approaching.  Skip took the wheel and soon had me crabbing sideways in to the River but at least I was making headway and not heading for the shallows.  Once safely inside behind the new breakwater which to be honest may have caused some of the issues, the helm was relinquished and my fenders set.  As we approached my berth it became apparent that another boat was sitting not too far downstream of my place.

Anyway skip decided with the wind blowing me on he could make the gap, what he forgotten of course was the G2 still in its sock was creating more windaged and so as soon as he drew level with my berth and slowed me down the bow was caught by the wind and turned me into the berth.  Now this would've been fine if there was a roving fender but there wasn't and so I got a bloodied nose but we hadn't hit anyone and I was in.  Within minutes the tide was almost full bore and would've made the proceeds that much more interesting.

The up side of this is the boat that had squeezed my space took aged to work out how to get themselves off.

It was a cracking day never-the-less and at least all of my remaining electrics behaved themselves.

So Far So Good, but not for Skip !

So far I've been taken out on quiet a few weekends since being back on the water and I've been able to show them what I can do.  Although I must admit I'm probably testing the patience of my owners with a few issues that weren't apparent when I was in the Yacht Haven.

So lets go back to the last Bank Holiday.  My skipper had replaced the bearings on the Marlec wind generator but the unit struggled to spin.  After the usual e-mails he sends to the manufacturers when he gets puzzled, it turns out they feel that the unit has managed to burn out.  So he's taken the whole unit complete with stainless steel mounting pole off.  The unit has headed north to Corby to enable it to go through research and be diagnosed as to what may have occurred, it's regulator has also gone, as in theory this should have prevented any damage from occurring.  The manual anode that skipper fitted has had to be replaced as this managed to slip over the side during the removal of the pole.

So come the last bank holiday I was yet again taken out for a run.  Both my G2 & Code 0, was attached to the guard rail at the bow in readiness but the wind hung just below 15 knots, which is usually the time to put a reef in the main and well above the time to fly this extra cloth.  I was taken well past the forts near to Chichester and was turned round to head back.  Now before I left the pontoon earlier in the day I had a misdemeanour with engine running and all usual circuits on I managed to cause an entire black out when the bow thruster was tested.  Not only did all the instruments reset themselves but the intelligent regulator attached to the alternator died, this meant that even with the engine running the batteries appeared not to be recharging.  Whilst my skipper wasn't in too much of a panic his crew certainly was.

Anyway we had a cracking sail back from Chichester with boat speed and SOG being as expected.   I was being held at a good wind angle and a larger 50' yacht just couldn't pass me, despite its huge 110% genoa.  Any way my engine started without fuss and we headed back to my pontoon.

On the Monday skip returned and set about lifting the floor to check my batteries before disconnecting the intelligent regulator from the alternator and sure enough the batteries charged.  After a few minutes he reconnected it and it returned to normal.  So he repeated the exercise and run the bow thruster to make sure.  During a trip up to London he carried out some research in to the fact that even though I have a 100amp alternator only about 30amps ever is discharged.  So now he knows that the ratio between crank pulley & alternator pulley is 1:2.5 and he's downloaded the power curve, he can see what he should expect in terms of amps at any given revs.

He's also temporarily rigged up the AIS so you should be able to see where I am 24/7 just go to www.marinetraffic.com and look in the Solent area or type in my name in the search window.  He's got about 4,000 different combinations to work out the final wiring configuration but I'm sure he'll sort it in due course.  He also stripped down the solenoid for the electric winch so now that's back up and running.

I understand that the Honda outboard motor has been given a thorough service and this has required a new carburettor. The Yamaha that was drained before winter has started and ran like clockwork.

I'm looking forward to this weekend to see where I'm taken and show them that I am a fast cruiser and keep their trimming skills well honed.

Straight Forward Run

Today my crew turned up and took me out to stretch my legs.

My GPS repeater that sits at the end of the table in the cockpit, was returned and wired back in.  With the sun shining but 5-8knots of variable winds I was taken out in to the Solent once again and headed West with the ebbing tide.

According to my crew the forecast was for Northerly backing Westerly winds, however the Solent as always did its own thing and South Westerly's crept in more often than expected.  The last third in fact saw me sail due South in order to keep moving with a modicum of speed.  I was happy to show my crew that the speed encountered previously wasn't an ill calibrated instrument and within an hour and a half we were up by Hurst Castle and turned to head back.  Rather than Goose wing on a dead run, which a number of smaller yachts were doing, my skipper not a great fan of this angle of sail, he kept the jib filled and gybed back and forth back to Cowes.  In fact he maintained a reasonable speed of 5.0 - 6.0 knots of boat speed as the tide turned increasing SOG (Speed over the Ground) as defined by satellites.

The wind had been fickle all day, Northerly , Westerly and South Westerly never exceeding 10.0 knots, yet I clocked up 8.0 knots at one point.

My Marlec wind generator is still not working and the bolts that hold it all together are proving a little awkward to loosen off,  Skip has the bearings to replace but without getting the unit off he'll struggle to fix it.  The solenoid for the winch, hasn't been freed yet either, assume that'll come shortly.

Assume these things will be tackled shortly.

Spring Sail

No not a rush to the shops, but I was taken out for a shake down weekend.

Firstly I thought it was my new prop that was being tested as I headed straight out in to the Solent with the tide against me.  At 1,600rpm I was running at 6.6 knots, clearly the swap for a 10" blade has or will pay dividends as I was barely making 5.0k knots at 2,200 rpm last year. So less stress on the engine, better fuel consumption and more nmpg (nautical miles per gallon).  Last year it was around 4.5lts/hr so it will be interesting to see what the consumption will be this year.

Although there will be an unknown factor introduced in the form of the Webasto heater.  Having been serviced with a new burner fitted and following the planned works, including the provision of insulation sleeves over the ducting, the new in line fan.  This should blow hot air through new larger ducting to the master cabin, getting heat in there in volumes without over heating the unit, the first time this will have happened since it was fitted from new.  So there will be some diesel used but I'm sure my skipper will be able to find out how much the Heat Top 5000 burns per hour.

After five minutes I wasn't turned to wind ready for the sails to be hoisted but instead I was pushed on and headed up Southampton Water, more reason to believe I was on a test.  Skipper brought me round in to Town Quay and I ran parallel with the outer pontoon, two things then happened, firstly the yacht that arrived a few minutes before me had managed to get a stern warp on, but the wind that had freshened had blown his nose clear of the pontoon before they realised.  It was now 90 degrees across my bows, although at the far end. The second thing, was that on tick over I was still pushing 2 knots and whilst the crew stepped off my speed towards the other yacht was such that the mid ship warp couldn't be wrapped around the cleat quick enough before the line ran out.  By the time the skipper had slowed me down, the wind had caught me broad side and I was 2-3m off the pontoon.  Fortunately the marine assistant and a chap from a rib had managed to attach my bow line,  so I was reversed back and manoeuvred against the pontoon.  With the lines sorted and shore power plugged in it was clear I wasn't moving anywhere, in fact two guests turned up and after a short while they headed off in to town.

After a slow start, probably due to the effects on the crew of the previous evening. My skipper allowed the wind to push me off and reversed me clear.  The instant power from the prop pushes water over the rudder in enough volume that control is not long in coming.  Once away from the usual ferry traffic, both my skipper and his colleague sweated the main, the lady took in the slack and my usual crew member helmed. With one reef in I headed back down towards the Solent, the wind was such that each tack put me directly on the other side of the River.  It soon became apparent that the either the new laundered sails or the fact that my hull is clean or a combination of the two, that I was easily catching & passing others that were around us.  A sleek blue hulled, carbon fibre masted race boat came out of the Hamble and we appeared to jostle for position, whilst they sorted themselves out.  On the tack past the west side of Bramble bank we were the only two that remained within reasonable correlation with each other.

Heading up the Western Solent, the pair of us caught and past many boats our boat speed ranged from 7 to 10 knots, the tide was about 1.0 knot against us.  My skipper and his colleague were heard discussing whether I needed to be re-calibrated again.  The wind dropped and the slick boat shook out its reef, but my skipper is a little more circumspect when it comes to sailing in the Solent with all the wind shifts that occur.  However, he too decided that the time was right and so I was headed in to wind and the last of the sail was hoisted, manually of course, as the solenoid to the electric winch was stuck.  With the main full, I bared away but by now the slick machine had gained on me and others behind had made ground. Within minutes I had put water between us and was pulling away up went the speed again and the GPS at the chart table consulted to try to make some sense of it.

The plotter in the cockpit had also decided to fail. This my skipper has since discovered not an unknown fault to Raymarine and is the diodes that control the back lights, fortunately their facility is not far from where one of his jobs is, he's already taken it in to be repaired.

With big smiles on their faces and a touch of confusion on their brows we sailed out beyond Hurst and tacked back in to their favourite anchorage Totland Bay. Although the whereabouts of the windlass control caused some last minute panic, buried within the port side stern cabin that had become a dumping ground of everything that wasn't wanted.  This cabin is usually reserved for guests, but the Marlec wind generator noise had meant the skipper had switched the guest sweet to the starboard side further away. However the swell that was coming off of the south coast was likely to create an uncomfortable night and so before light had even started to fail, apart from the obvious greyness from moisture that was making its way up the Solent, the skipper decided to take us all to Lymington where not only were we back on a pontoon but the electric heaters could be deployed keeping my occupants toasty once more.

Due to their antics the previous evening, a meal was cooked on board and a reasonably early night was had by all, after a debrief was had on my days performance.  It was decided that on Sunday, I would be timed over a distance to answer the question as to whether my instruments were in fact out.

Once showers were had and breakfast served, my skipper again reversed me out from a tight space and set me off down the river. With the main hoisted and the first reef re-set we set off east, the wind completely different to that forecast, but that's the effect the land mass around the Solent has.  And so I was timed, the crew on the helm let go of the wheel to show the skipper that he'd got the sail balance about right, two tacks later and the shaking out of the reef I'd covered 15nm in 2 hours, it appears that my instruments are not if in fact out at all.  The reading given would've been influenced by the tide on the nose raising it by a knot or two.  With skipper still at the helm and trying to get lifted, he managed to get me to the North Cardinal buoy, the entrance (or exit) of the north channel before gybing me round.  However having been standing in the same position for so long, when I changed direction as asked, my skippers left leg failed to support his weight and folded beneath him causing him to collapse to the deck.  Strong hands on the wheel as always he pulled me further over than intended, he tried to get up but his leg was having none of it.  Eventually his colleague came and took my wheel, whilst skipper got up, blood returned to where it was needed and normality flooded the deck apart from the laughter.  With the wind behind me, my skipper held out the jib and thought that I had stopped, contemplating as to whether the engine was needed.  This was soon quashed when my speed of 6 -7 knots was called and again those boats that were behind drifted further away.

Allowing the ferry traffic to clear. my sails we're dropped and I was brought against the outside of the visitors pontoon to drop off the guests from where they arrived.  My crew then headed back with me under engine once more 1,800 rpm with 7.0 knots, allowing the crew to tidy me up and the skipper clearing the decks for an early departure once back on my home pontoon.

He returned the following day, to pick up all the bits that had been left behind and to clean me up some more.  As I said he removed the cockpit plotter and turned the master cabin shower control back the right way round as he'd fitted it incorrectly after sorting out the slight leak.

As for the drumming noise of my Marlec wind generator.  Well, he's found out that whilst I was on the hard with it down at an angle and prevented from spinning, it is highly likely that the bearing within have been exposed to rain and have rusted.  He's ordered two new bearing and will replace as soon as they come.

My next trip, well I heard that the first Bank Holiday in May the RORC fleet is heading for St Vaast, so my skipper has switched and will be heading to Cherbourg instead.  Let's see if all the repairs are ready in time and if my performance is verified.

Easter & the British Weather

Well anyone that made plans will tell you Easter was early this year.

From the beginning of the week my skipper had been watching the weather develop and his plans to take me to Weymouth with a couple of friends diminish.  Friday was looking good, an excellent forecast would make for a beautiful inaugural sail wind to the north then switching to the south would keep his crew on its toes, the 0900 planned start would see the tide eddy around Egypt Point and then pick up the full 6 hours leaving the last few hours within Weymouth Bay and a lesser of an influence, making it in the old harbour before dark.

However, the weather after that appeared to deteriorate.  It wasn't just the fact that it appeared to rain for the following three days, but the winds strengths were to reach storm force 10 on the day of their return.  Despite my skipper having had a third reef sown in to my main, it wasn't his intention to use it as he would say my first reef.  So the plans were cancelled.

Sure enough Good Friday was glorious and my Lazy Jack bag was adjusted to ensure the complete cover of my clean laundered and serviced main.  This meant hoisting my main to remove the weight out of the bag, but in the light winds this wasn't difficult.  The outer deck was washed down and brushed lightly to remove the green algae that hates sea water;  the black caulking between the old and new repaired teak was carefully applied, sealing what is believed to be a source of a leak in to the stern locker.

With the weather only due to worsen as the day progressed it was decided to move me back to my pontoon, especially as the taxi now made available by the Harbour Commission was due to cease after 1800, a conversation my skipper had with HM1, the patrol boat.  Today there was a small old fashion speed boat moored directly behind me, on the opposite side was a yacht, the large rib at my starboard bow on the finger pontoon had gone but the pontoon would be what I'd hit first in any case.  Preventing a clear passage out in to the river was a pair of yachts rafted on the hammer head, this meant that once through the gap my skipper had to turn hard to starboard and watch my bow to make sure I missed everything.  |The wind as always on these occasions felt as though it had picked up, but my skipper didn't show any signs of nerves.  Both lines were cast at the same time and the wind blew me off but towards the finger pontoon, my skipper putting a few revs on the tacho soon felt the effect of the new prop which had plenty of water over the rudder giving him control and so guided me threw the gap and turned without fuss and I was soon in the river.  With the throttle pushed forward there seemed to be a larger than usual wash behind me.  This was difficult to assess as at these times my blades are usually clean and are the most efficient.  However with the tide pushing me out in to the Solent, my bow thruster down and with only 1500 rpm on the clock I was travelling at 4.5 knots SOG.  With sudden realisation, my skipper eased the throttle so as not to damage the lowered bow thruster and I ticked along heading back to my base.  With both tide & wind against me, the skipper brought me in gently to my berth around the sail school yacht that had been using the pontoon for practice.

First impression of the new prop was good, but obviously a season of data needs to be established before the jury can decide on whether it was money well spent.  Skipper quietly pleased.

Two things came to light on this small journey, the first was the confirmation that my electric winch didn't work, this is probably going to be a stuck solenoid my skipper discovered before.  The second was the noise Marley the wind generator was making having been released for the first time in months.  It would make sleeping in the rear port cabin unattainable.  My skipper on returning on Saturday checked the wiring as this had been the cause previously.  The terminals at the batteries were still cable tied tightly providing plenty of support to the wiring at this end and a terminal block was discovered to have partially melted at the other end, which was soon replaced.  The other thought is that with the batteries having been charging over the winter period by shore power, the batteries themselves are fully charged and therefore the intelligent regulator is slowing the blades down as power is not needed, causing an element of vibration.  Tine will tell, it could of course just be that the as it's been held in the same position for three months there's a build up of dirt.  With the wind building, the attempt to put the mast cover on was abandoned, but the washed cockpit table cover and the sprayhood frame covers where fitted. With the last of the water sponged out of the bilge, my skipper packed up and headed home before the rain came.

Heat & New Lazy Jack bag

My Skipper has been doing a lot of research regarding my Webasto hear Airtop5000 to be exact.  Previously it appeared to work ok, but in fact it delivered warm air to my rear cabins and sometimes the saloon, but no chance of getting any heat further forward.  Which is where to be honest the owners are likely to want it in the Master Cabin.  New models are fitted with two heaters one entirely serving the Master Cabin.

However, as I said my skipper has done his homework.  The Airtop5000 has an overheat cut off sensor and as the fan on the unit is not capable of moving the volume of hot air away from the unit fast enough it overheats, the sensor picks that up and the unit is shut down.  The increase in volume of air flow through a 90mm dia duct compared to a 60mm dia duct is more than 50% again.  So my skipper is going to replace the undersized duct work from beneath the chart table to the Master Cabin with the larger 90mm duct, at the point of change he's going to install an in line fan controlled by a variable speed switch enabling him to draw the air away from the heater unit, stopping it from overheating and deliver it where it's wanted to the front.  He's also got a number of thermal socks that go over the duct work, that is designed to keep the air hot within the duct work.

So this winter having serviced the unit and replaced the burner unit, I went back on.  Only to discover that an error code shown on the panel was leading to a new problem with the fan.  It was soon discovered that the plastic shrouds at the end had been put on the wrong way round preventing the fan from spinning.  Once switched and re-assembled, the unit fired up pumping hot air by the bucket load in to the stern locker.  This was a bit of a eureka moment for my skipper who was expecting to spend a few more hours getting it to fire up.

Now my skipper has to check that the ducting in the stern locker has become crushed preventing airflow from moving forward.  Then he'll add the thermal socks to the 60mm ducting that serves the rear cabins and the heads off the saloon.  From there he'll strip out the existing 60mm ducting to the Master Cabin and heads and replace it with 90mm and surround it in the thermal sock, and add the new inline fan.  Once this has been completed, warm or even hot air should reach the Master Cabin like the manufacturer had intended but failed to do and has never done before.

I'll keep you posted as how he gets on with the inline fan and the new duct work.

Allowing the unit to run, my skipper then turned his attention to fitting the new Lazy Jack bag he had made locally.  Now imagine strong winds, larger areas of cloth and one man trying to fit it to the boom and you can imagine the picture.  Still he's done this before and slid the bag down the boom and tied each of the hoops, then put sail ties around it to stop the wind from shaking it to pieces.  The bag like my jib are all looking crispy clean, so its just the main to go before my first trip at Easter.  I understand the plan is to head for Weymouth using the six hours of ebbing tide to assist, guests may be present, which is a good thing especially as its a colleague that my skipper & crew have done number of races with including the Fastnet.  Only hope the weather doesn't mar the plans.

Back in the Water

Having struck a deal with the Yacht Haven I'm back in the water and on a temporary mooring, my skipper happy that all the work to my hull and prop done and all the other work can be achieved afloat.  This is partly good will as the hard was chock-a and by moving me created much needed space for the marine manager.

Although the funny thing is that having been lowered in to the water once more, I was brought in to collision against a pile, only gently but enough to knock out the repair my skipper had done following my altercation with Polly Agatha.  So I've now had a professional to complete what had been a reasonable repair in the first place.

My laundered Jib is back on after the mix up with the sail loft, just waiting for the Lazy Jack bag to go on before my laundered main can be fitted complete with its new third reef, which will require yet another halyard to be fitted, to operate it.

So with me on the water my skipper has set about finishing off the repair to the damaged teak that was done at the same time.

Old teak removed

 



New Teak cut in

 





Finished job with my wind generator back and push pit

back on

 

Just need to allow Mother Nature to turn the red to a silvery grey to match the rest.  Now that the push pit is back on, the nuts need to be just tightened before the Webasto heater can go back on it's plinth and be plugged back in.  I understand that the skipper wants to run it without the duct work connected to make sure that it works as I should and at least be ready for the Easter trip.  The additional 90mm ducting and the insulation socks are all on board ready to go on.  He's going to replace the 60mm duct to the master cabin with 90mm which I understand will increase the air flow to the front by almost 50%.  With the variable speed inline fan and thermal socks hot air should reach the occupants of my master cabin in earnest for the first time.

 

For now his visions are on taking me out at Easter for a shake down to Weymouth.  When we return I go back to my usual mooring up the Medina River opposite UKSA's base.  I'll return there in a much better state than I left.



New prop 2

The new prop duly arrived and was fitted, not only is it 1" in diameter bigger overall but each blade is also 1" bigger.  My skipper has estimated that there's a possible 20% increase in power or fuel efficiency, it will be interesting to see what I can achieve under engine.

 

 



 

This is a vast improvement on what I had prior to coming out of the water, check the earlier blog.  The parts for the Webasto heater are on order, so I assume that's his next focus to get the master cabin heated as it should be.

 

The cleaning of my hull and the blue stripes is going exceptionally well, but I understand that my skipper would like to go over me again with the two compounds he bought as the area around the blue stripes with the compound has shown up the deficiencies of the ordinarily cleaned and polished areas previously completed

 

 

The shine he has achieved is breath taking and my skipper would like the time back to start again.  Still he recons that next year he can fill &polish out all my dings and bumps from the hull next year !  So providing my skipper manages to finish off cleaning my hull, I'm looking to go back in the water the first Monday in March.  This give the Yacht Haven a huge relief and so my skipper can continue to clean my decks and under take other jobs too whilst I'm still on shore power.

 

]My sails are back from laundry  but are being serviced or a third reef fitted, the Lazy Jack bag likewise is being hand made using the old one as a template, so lots going on in the background.

 

I'm looking forward to the jaunt out to Weymouth come the Easter weekend, only hope the weather holds.

 

 

Here's some more shots of the cleaning work to my hull sides and stripes :-

 

 













Glassy finish

It's March and I've just gone back in the water now that my hull's been cleaned, both the jib & main (complete with a new third reef) are back from being cleaned and serviced so they're off to the Hamble to pick it up.  The new Lazy Jack bag will soon be complete and with my soft furnishings in the salon having a steam clean plus Scotch Guard treatment, I'm ready almost for another season.  My Skipper still has items on his list to do but these can be achieved whilst I'm afloat

New Prop

I feel a lucky boy, my skipper has been working hard on cleaning my hull over the last few months. First I get a chemical wash, bit like a T cut, which takes off the film of dirt that has dulled the shine and then rubs in an acrylic polish and buffs me up.  Recently he's gone one step further.  He's gone professional and located two products that has made a huge difference, a rubbing compound by Turtle Wax and a polishing compound from 3M's.  Each has it's own Lamb's wool pad so as not to contaminate one product with the other.

The blue stripes have become oxidised over the last 5 years yet clearly you can see that this has been removed bringing back a show room shine.



The clear line between before and after.



The shine achieved using the compounds prior to finish polishing with the Acrylic wax

The shine achieved, although this side requires the blue stripes to be redone !

 

I understand that next year he's going to set upon all the scratches and marks I have on my hull to return me to a showroom condition.

 

There are just two more panels to work on along the port side and by panels I mean the width of the scaffold tower my skipper has.  This enables him to reach from Gunnels to water line, whilst working on a reasonably stable footprint.  He recons that if he gets two more days he'll have me cleaned up ready to go back in to the water.

 

He's also ordered a new prop a 20" to replace my 18" and found out loads about the deal Yanmar made with Hanse whilst I and others were being built.  Apparently the 20" is the correct size for my 75 hp engine, so that'll be interesting to see how much more power I have and how much further I can go for the same 2,200 rpm cruising revs.

 

With this due to arrive this week I could be back in the marina by the end of the month.  My skipper has done this as the manager is struggling for room on the hard, plus he can still work on my Webasto heater and other things whilst I'm on the water but providing he has an electrical supply.  He's come to an arrangement so I assume he's happy with that.

 

I'm hearing rumours of the first planned trip over the Easter break.  A run to Weymouth at 0900 on the Friday picking up the back eddy outside of Cowes by Egypt Point and then using the 6 hours of ebb tide to get us there.  Meeting up with some of his friends before a pleasure sail around the bay on Saturday.  Sunday off then an early start Monday to grab the 6 hours of flood tide back, of course as always Mother Nature has the last say.